Elmira pilot dies in plane crash in New Jersey

An Elmira man has been identified as the pilot found dead in the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Herald reports that 59-year-old Lu Chen, of Elmira, was alone in the six-seat 1966 Cessna plane that was found in a wooded area in Wantage, New Jersey, on May 19.

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board found that Chen never filed a flight plan and the plane had not been reported missing.

The plane was found three days after it crashed, upside down with its wings torn off. Civil Air Patrol Maj. Bill Martin has said it appears the aircraft hit a tree line while trying to land in the field.

Chen learned to become a pilot at Costa's Flying Service in Painted Post and bought the Cessna plane that he died in from owner Joseph Costa.

Chen spent several years in Elmira but was living in the Rome, New York, area for the past few years, said Costa, who added Chen was friendly but spoke little about himself.

"He learned to fly here in 2006. I sold him his first airplane and took that back in on a trade and sold him the plane he died in," Costa said. "He bought that plane in 2013. He left with it in 2014 and took it up around Rome. I haven’t seen him in a year and a half. He did some computer programming. He was vague on what he actually did. He never really told anybody."

Costa said Chen grew up in New Jersey and he doesn't believe he had any family in the Elmira area.

Costa said he read the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report and said it appears Chen flew out of an airport in the Rome area late in the evening and crashed about an hour later.

It will probably be several months before a final crash report is released, and Costa said he will be interested in reading it.

"It’s too bad. As a pilot, you read the NTSB report, and there are an awful lot of unanswered questions," Costa said. "A lot of stuff is not making sense."